As the new home of OSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Oregon can be contacted regarding this news release.
OSPIRG Commends Oregon Representatives for Fighting for Oregon’s Global Warming Policy
PORTLAND—A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives, including four
members of Oregon’s congressional delegation, sent a letter today to
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, urging him to approve a waiver that
Oregon and 10 other states need to implement their Clean Cars program,
which will limit global warming pollution and other harmful emissions
from cars and SUVs. The EPA has not acted on a waiver request
originally made in December 2005.
“While
the Bush administration sits on its hands, Oregon is taking action to
reduce global warming pollution from cars and SUVs,” said Jeremiah
Baumann, an environmental advocate with the Oregon State Public
Interest Research Group (OSPIRG). “When it comes to global warming, the
federal government has made it clear they won’t lead, so they need to
either follow or get out of the way when states like Oregon enact
common-sense solutions.”
The Clean Air Act allows states to adopt motor vehicle emissions
standards that are more protective than federal minimum standards, as
Oregon did with its Clean Cars program in June. Motor vehicle sales in
the 11 states that have so far adopted the standards amount to about
one-third of all new vehicles sold nationwide each year.
For states to implement the standards, however, EPA must grant a waiver
under section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act, which California has
requested. States that adopt more protective standards must maintain
consistent standards, so only California, the first state to adopt the
standards, needs a waiver. Baumann noted EPA has routinely granted
waiver requests more than 40 times in the last three decades.
However, EPA has failed to act on the request, and today
Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, David Wu, and Darlene
Hooley joined more than 100 other members of Congress in sending a
letter to EPA Administrator Johnson urging him to take swift to “allow
California and ten other leading states to adopt technically feasible
and cost-effective emissions standards to reduce global warming
pollution from new passenger vehicles.”
“These
four members of Oregon’s congressional delegation are fighting for
Oregon’s global warming solutions in Washington, DC. We commend them
for their leadership,” said Baumann.
Cars, SUVs, and other transportation sources account for one-third of
total U.S. global warming emissions. The Oregon standards begin with
the 2009 model year and phase in gradually over eight years. By the
2016 model year, they would cut global warming pollution from new
vehicles by almost 30 percent.
